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Homeless to Harvard: Toronto dropout accepted to Ivy league school

Toni Morgan, 32, is crowdfunding $71,000 to cover her tuition and housing costs

Toni Morgan was accepted into Harvard to complete her Masters of Education. "My case isn't as unique as people think," she says. "I refused to accept what people told me I was capable of." (Melissa Renwick / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

It took three days for Toni Morgan to read the email, but when she finally did, she couldn’t believe it was real.

Emblazoned with a Harvard University logo was a congratulatory note accepting the 32-year-old, non-profit programming director to the school’s prestigious masters of education program next fall.

The letter brought her to tears. It meant she had come a long way from her days as a teenager who bounced in and out of shelters after leaving home amidst instability. Back then, she took on odd jobs and unsteady work to stay afloat, but eventually, dropped out of high school with a shoddy attendance record and poor grades.

“I had been kicked out a couple of times, but I decided not to go back because I was embarrassed to admit that I had no place to live,” Morgan recalled. “The last time I was kicked out my vice principal turned to me and said that I would never have a university degree.”

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That was enough to set Morgan on a path to beat the odds. She found shelter at the Young Women’s Christian Association and started cobbling together cash through telemarketing work for a university education.

Eventually, she saved enough to apply to Ryerson University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts for equity and diversity studies.

“I just wanted to get that undergrad degree that the principal said I couldn’t get,” she told the Star, noting that it took her almost 10 years to do so because she was “balancing life and a career.”

Meanwhile, Morgan nabbed gigs at the City of Toronto’s youth justice program, Toronto Community Housing and the Jane and Finch Community Centre. She also began teaching at Centennial College.

Most of her peers had masters degrees and proving herself to them was difficult so she set her sights on landing one of her own. Harvard, she thought, would be the perfect place to do that, but the voices in her head told her “don’t be unrealistic,” “you don’t belong” and “they’ll never let you in.”

She fought the noise and secretly applied to the school three months ago.

“I felt like I needed to keep it to myself so if it never happened, then no one would need to talk about it,” she said.

Her acceptance email arrived last month as she rode the bus. She saw “congratulations” at the top of the page, but assumed it was a teasing message of appreciation for applying. When she tried to scroll down further, her phone wouldn’t let her. It was three days until she checked on a computer and realized she had made the cut.

The news stunned her mom and her friends, who excitedly hugged and cried with her.

With the secret out and the excitement starting to build, a new challenge emerged. The $71,000 USD price tag that came with tuition and housing at the Ivy League school in Massachusetts was an unfathomable expense for a non-profit worker like Morgan.

Scholarships were out of the question, she told the Star, because most exclude mature students and the rest require applicants “to be a straight A students with a great, consistent GPA.”

Originally she thought of nixing her dreams, but instead, turned to crowdfunding telling potential donors “I will live on a park bench if it means I can attend this school.” As of Wednesday, about 46 people were determined to make sure she wouldn’t be using wooden slats as a pillow. They donated more than $7,000—a total that made Morgan feel humbled, but is significantly shy of her goal.

She may be awaiting tens of thousands of dollars before May 15—her U.S. visa deadline—but she hasn’t given up hope that she will reach her goal and inspire others.

“There are a lot of people who have been told they aren’t capable of something and as someone who has experienced homelessness and lived in poverty, I know others can identify with these situations,” she said. “I want them to believe in a great city where we prop each other up and get behind each other. That’s why this is so important to me.”

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